During the past decade, tangible sensor technologies have matured and become less expensive and easier to use, leading to an explosion of innovative musical designs within video games, smartphone applications, and interactive art installations. Interactive audio has become an important design quality in commercially successful games like Guitar Hero , and a range of mobile phone applications motivating people to interact, play, dance, and collaborate with music. Parallel to the game, phone, and art scenes, an area of music and health research has grown, showing the positive results of using music to promote health and wellbeing in everyday situations and for a broad range of people, from children and elderly to people with psychological and physiological disabilities. Both quantitative medical and ecological humanistic research show that interaction with music can improve health, through music’s ability to evoke feelings, motivate people to interact, master, and cope with difficult situations, create social relations and experience shared meaning. Only recently, however, the music and health field has started to take interest in interactive audio, based on computer-mediated technologies’ potential for health improvement. Here, we show the potential of using interactive audio in what we call interactive musicking in the computer-based interactive environment Wave. Interactive musicking is based on musicologist Christopher Small’s concept “musicking”, meaning any form of relation-building that occurs between people, and people and things, related to activities that include music. For instance, musicking includes dancing, listening, and playing with music (in professional contexts and in amateur, everyday contexts). We have adapted the concept of "musicking" on the design of computer-based musical devices. The context for this chapter is the research project RHYME. RHYME is a multidisciplinary collaboration between the Centre for Music and Health at the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO), and Informatics at the University of Oslo. Our target group is families with children with severe disabilities. Our goal is to improve health and wellbeing in the families through everyday musicking activities in interactive environments. Our research approach is to use knowledge from music and health research, musical composition and improvisation, musical action research, musicology, music sociology, and soundscape studies, when designing the tangible interactive environments. Our focus here is interaction design and composition strategies, following research-by-design methodology, creating interactive musicking environments. We describe the research and design of the interactive musicking environment Wave, based on video documentation, during a sequence of actions. Our findings suggest some interactive audio design strategies to improve health. We base the design strategies on musical actions performed while playing an instrument, such as impulsive or iterative hitting, or sustainable stroking of an instrument. Musical actions like these can also be used for musicking in everyday contexts, creating direct sound responses to evoke feelings that create expectations and confirm interactions. In opposition to a more control-oriented, instrument and interface perspective, we argue that musical variation and narrative models can be used to design interactive audio, where the audio is seen as an actor taking many different roles, as instrument, co-musician, toy, etc. In this way, the audio and the interactive musicking environments will change over time, answering with direct response, as well as nose-thumbing and changing response, motivating creation, play, and social interaction. Musical variation can also be used to design musical backgrounds and soundscapes that can be used for creating layers of ambience. These models create a safe environment and contribute to shared meaning.

Our voice and body are important parts of our self-expression and self-experience for all of us. They are also essential for our way to communicate and build relations cross borders such as abilities, ages, locations and backgrounds. Voice, body and tangibility gradually become more important for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), due to increased development of tangible interaction and mobile communication. The voice and tangible interaction therefore also become more important for the fields of Assistive Technology, Health Technology and Universal Design. In this paper we present and discuss our work with voice and tangible interaction in our on-going research project RHYME. The goal is to improve health for families, adults and children with disabilities through use of collaborative, musical, tangible and sensorial media. We build on use of voice in Music Therapy, knowledge from multi-sensory stimulation and on a humanistic health approach. Our challenge is to design vocal and tangible interactive media that are sensorially stimulating. Interactive media that through use, can reduce isolation and passivity and increase empowerment for all the users. We use sound recognition, generative sound synthesis, vibrations and cross-media techniques, to create rhythms, melodies and harmonic chords to stimulate voice-body connections, positive emotions and structures for actions.

In this paper we explore how we compose sound for an interactive tangible and mobile interface, where the goal is to improve health and well-being for families with children with disabilities. We describe the composition process of how we decompose a linear beat-based and vocal sound material and recompose it with real-time audio synthesis and composition rules into interactive Scenes. Scenes that make it possible for the users to select, explore and recreate different sound worlds. In order to recreate, the users interact with the tangible interface in different ways, as instrument, play with it as a friend, improvise and create music and relax with it as ambient sounding furniture. We discuss composition techniques for mixing sound, tangible-physical and lighting elements in the Scenes. Based on observations we explore how a diverse audience in the family and at school can recreate and improvise their own sound experience and play together in open and non-therapeutic everyday situations. We conclude by discussing the possible impact of our findings for the NIME-community; how the techniques of decomposing, recomposing and recreating sound, based on a relational perspective, could contribute to the design of new instruments for musical expression.

Introduction: The palliative care approach aims to integrate psychosocial and existential aspects as well as relationship aspects in the care and can be used in all care contexts. In residential care, nurse assistants (NAs) are the ones who are closest to the residents, but have limited prerequisites to work in accordance with the palliative care approach. We aimed to investigate the effects of an intervention applying a palliative care approach in residential care, on NAs experience of care provision and caring climate.

Method: In this quasi-experimental study we evaluated the intervention involving NAs (n=75) and their leaders (n=9), focusing on emotional, existential and relationship aspects within the palliative care approach, in comparison with controls (n=110). Data consisted of a questionnaire that the NAs answered at three time points.

Results: In the intervention group, effects were seen concerning the NAs reports of the care provision in that they focused more on to ease for residents to narrate about their lives, and on communication with residents in what gives them meaning in life. In the intervention group effects were also seen in that the NAs rated the residents medical and nursing care needs being less met at the facility after the intervention. No effects were seen concerning the caring climate or the possibilities to provide a more person-centered care.

Conclusion: The intervention seemingly facilitated for the NAs to focus on relationship aspects with the residents. But the intervention was not sufficient to change the organizational prerequisites for the staff to provide a more person-centered care.

A palliative care approach aims to integrate psychosocial and existential as well as relationship aspects in the care and is an approach that can be used in residential care. Nurse assistants are the ones who are closest to the residents but have limited prerequisites for working in accordance with the palliative care approach. We aimed to investigate the effects on nurse assistants' experiences of care provision and the caring climate of an intervention applying a palliative care approach in residential care.

Methods

An intervention involving nurse assistants (n = 75) and their leaders (n = 9), in comparison with controls (n = 110), was evaluated using a questionnaire at three points in time.

Results

In the intervention group, positive effects were seen concerning the nurse assistants' reports of the care provision in that they focused more on the residents' stories about their lives and on communicating with the residents about what gave meaning to their lives. Also, negative effects were seen when the nurse assistants rated that the residents' needs for medical and nursing care had not been met at the facility directly after the intervention. No effects were seen concerning the caring climate or the prerequisites of providing more person-centred care.

Conclusion

The intervention seemed to have encouraged the nurse assistants to focus on relationship aspects with the residents. So as not to jeopardise the NAs' well-being and to support NAs in keeping themselves involved in existential issues, their support most certainly needs to be continuous and ongoing. However, in spite of the leaders' involvement, the intervention was not sufficient for changing the organisational prerequisites for more person-centred care.

Objectives: The aim was to investigate the effects of an intervention that applies a palliative care approach in residential care upon nurse assistants' level of strain, job satisfaction, and view of leadership.

Results: Directly after the intervention, the job satisfaction of the nurse assistants decreased and they perceived the leadership more negatively than before the intervention. Six months later, strain as a result of criticism from residents and their superiors and having difficulty in balancing emotional involvement had decreased.

Significance of results: The intervention initially seemed to decrease the well-being of the nurse assistants, which could be the result of their increased awareness of the residents' and relatives' needs, in combination with limited support. More emphasis should be placed on the role of leadership when implementing changes in practice.

Background. Nurse assistants working in residential care facilities need support to ensure that they provide high-quality care for the residents and support for relatives, from admission to bereavement.

Aim. The aim was to describe the nurse assistants’ experience of how an intervention with a palliative care approach, had influenced them in their work in residential care for older people.

Participants. Fourteen nurse assistants working in three different municipal residential care facilities.

Methods. Data were collected by means of semi-structured individual interviews following an intervention consisting of study circles combined with workshops. The data were analysed using content analysis.

Result. The nurse assistants felt that, through the intervention, they had gained insight into their understanding of the importance of quality of care. This included an increased awareness of, and respect for, residents’ and relatives’ needs, and an increased understanding of the importance of the outcome of encounters with residents and their relatives. After the intervention, they also felt there was increased openness and understanding between colleagues. However, the nurse assistants also expressed frustration over obstacles to implementing a palliative care approach, such as lack of resources and supportive leadership.

Conclusion. The nurse assistants felt that the intervention was positive and encouraged them to provide more person-centred care within the framework of a palliative care approach. Although the intervention was intended to involve and support the management, it was not sufficient. Nurse assistants described lack of resources and supportive leadership. There is, therefore, a need to place greater emphasis on leadership and their support of nurse assistants so that they can provide high-quality care.

Implications for practice. To support nurse assistants in the provision of care, clear leadership and opportunities to discuss and reflect on issues associated with care, including systematic improvement work in practice, appear to be essential to ensure high-quality care.

Background. One key aspect of person-centredness is striving to understand both the patients' experiences and behaviours from their perspective. These aspects are precisely those that staff in dementia care highlight as causing them most difficulty because the people in their care have major problems expressing themselves. There is thus a need to develop a method to help the staff to achieve interpretation through reflection.

Aim. The aim of this study was to explore the use of drama as a tool to support reflection among staff working in the residential care of people with dementia.

Design. A qualitative evaluation of a programme consisting of three drama sessions with staff working in residential care (n = 10 nurse assistants).

Methods. Data comprised observations and tape recordings of the sessions, the researchers' reflections after each session and a focus-group interview with the participants. The texts were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results. The analysis showed that: (i) the exercises stimulate reflection about daily caring practice; (ii) the participants must receive extensive information about the purpose of the sessions; (iii) the research team must secure the defined frames and conditions and have practical knowledge about caring for people with dementia and (iv) the management needs to be stable, committed and supportive.

Conclusion. Drama seems to be a valid tool to aid reflection, but several adjustments are needed concerning both the content of the sessions and the methodology. When designing a larger intervention study, it would be preferable to the sessions to be combined with staff support to effect changes in care provision resulting from their increased awareness of the residents' situation and experience.

Implications for practice. Our results showed that drama can be a means to enhance reflection among staff in residential care for people with dementia. Further research is however needed concerning the effects for the staff's situation and nursing care quality.

Background: Persons with dementia receive health care and social services from a wide range of professional care providers during the disease trajectory, presenting risks of miscommunication, duplication and/or missed nursing interventions. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate professional care providers’ views on conditions for best practice in terms of collaboration and improvement needs in the chain of care from early to end-of-life stage for persons with dementia in Sweden.

Methods: The study had a qualitative design based on three focus group interviews. A strategic sample of 23 professional care providers was included. Data were subjected to content analysis based on the three stages of dementia (early, moderate, end-of-life).

Results: The results were divided into five categories: Diagnosis is a prerequisite for specialized dementia care, Creating routines in the chain of care, Competent staff a prerequisite for high-quality care, Day care facilitates transition in the chain of care and Next-of-kin participation is a prerequisite for continuity in the chain of care. It was clear that, according to the participants, best practice in dementia care in Sweden is not achieved in every respect. It appeared that transitions of care between different organizations are critical events which need to be improved. The further the disease progresses, the less collaboration there seems to be among professional care providers, which is when the next of kin are usually called upon to maintain continuity in the chain of care.

Conclusions: The results indicate that, according to the care providers, best practice in terms of collaboration is achieved to a higher degree during the early stage of dementia compared with the moderate and end-of-life stages. Lack of best practice strategies during these stages makes it difficult to meet the needs of persons with dementia and reduce the burden for next of kin. These are experiences to be taken into account to improve the quality of dementia care. Implementation research is needed to develop strategies for best practice on the basis of national knowledge-based guidelines and to apply these strategies in the moderate and end-of-life stages.

n this article we present a novel approach for the understanding and the design of interactive health improving music technology, what we call Musicking Tangibles. The Musicking Tangibles approach represents an alternative approach to the traditional instrument, interface and switch-oriented music technology perspective. Our approach combines a humanistic, resource and empowerment oriented health approach with an aesthetic and culture based design approach towards music technology. We present four empowering and health improving qualities for the Musicking Tangibles. These qualities emphasize to: 1) Continually evoke interest and positive emotions relevant to diverse users’ interpretation of the tangibles and the situation; 2) Dynamically offer the users many roles to take, many musicking actions to make and many ways to express themselves; 3) Offer the users aesthetically consistent responses and build relevant cross-media expectations and challenges over time and space, consistent with their character; 4) Offer the users many relations to make: to people, things, experiences, events and places. Further we present and argue for some design solutions of the Musicking Tangibles ORFI, WAVE, REFLECT, and the POLLY World from the RHYME-project. In developing POLLY we have tried to put together as many design qualities as possible, to exemplify our view and current understanding.

The aim of this study was to explore school nurses’ experience of challenges related to documenting schoolchildren’s psychosocial health in Sweden. Six focus group discussions were carried out. Areas for discussions included questions about situations, especially challenging to document as well as what constrains and/or facilitates documenting psychosocial health problem issues. Qualitative content analysis was used for interpreting the data. The analysis resulted in one overarching theme: having to do one’s duty and being afraid of doing wrong; and three subthemes: uncertainty related to one’s own ability, concerns related to future consequences, and strategies to handle the documentation. School nurses relying on their intuition and using a structured documentation model may increase the opportunities for a reliable documentation. To further develop their professional skills with regular, clinical supervision can be of great importance. This in turn may increase contributions to research and development for the benefit of schoolchildren’s psychosocial health.

BACKGROUND: Though many staff gain satisfaction from working with people with dementia in residential facilities, they also experience significant stress. This is a serious issue because this in turn can affect the quality of care. There is, however, a lack of instruments to measure staff strain in the dementia-specific residential care environment, and the aim of this study, accordingly, was to develop the "Strain in Dementia Care Scale."

METHODS: The instrument was developed in three steps. In the first step, items were derived from six focus group discussions with 35 nurses in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Sweden concerning their experience of strain. In the second step, a preliminary 64-item scale was distributed to 927 dementia care staff in Australia and Sweden, which, based on exploratory factor analysis, resulted in a 29-item scale. In the final step, the 29-item scale was distributed to a new sample of 346 staff in Sweden, and the results were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: The scale can be used (a) as an outcome measurement in residential care intervention studies; (b) to help residential facilities identify interventions needed to improve staff well-being, and, by extension, those they care for; and ((c) to generally make more salient the critical issue of staff strain and the importance of ameliorating it.)

BACKGROUND: The focus of education in nursing has changed over time with a decreased focus on biomedicine and an increased focus on nursing science. It is therefore important to investigate whether these changes are also reflected in the students' conceptions and expectations of the programme over time.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to describe and compare two cohorts of students entering the nursing programme with 10year in between (2003 and 2013), regarding their demographic background, reasons for wanting to become a registered nurse, expectations of the programme and perceptions of the nursing profession.

DESIGN AND SETTING: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional cohort study carried out at a university in southern Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS: In all, 177 nursing students participated in the study, 89 from the 2003 cohort and 88 from the 2013 cohort.

METHODS: Data were collected at the start of the programme using a questionnaire consisting of predefined and open-ended questions. The responses were statistically analysed and compared.

RESULTS: The students' reasons for wanting to become a registered nurse remained stable over the 10-year period. The main reason stated by the students in both cohort was humanitarian, i. e wanting to help others. The students' expectations regarding both the programme and the nursing profession had, however, changed significantly from a biomedical to a nursing orientation in the 10-year perspective.

CONCLUSIONS: The change in the students' preconceptions of the nursing education towards increasing importance of nursing science indicates the beginning of a paradigm shift.

In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated that stress and mental health problems have increased among adolescents and especially among girls, although little is still known concerning what girls experience in their everyday lives. The aim of this study was to describe the phenomenon of teenage girls’ everyday lives, as experienced by the girls themselves. A phenomenological approach of reflective lifeworld research was used, and the findings are based on eight qualitative interviews with girls aged 13–16 years. The essence of teenage girls’ everyday lives as experienced by the girls themselves can be described as consciousness regarding demands and unfairness and regarding the importance of connectedness and security. The girls are aware of the demands of appearance and success, and they are conscious of the gender differences in school and in the media that affect them. The girls are also conscious about the meaning of connectedness with friends and family, as well as the importance of the security of their confidence in friends and feeling safe where they stay. If teenage girls feel connected and secure, protective factors in the form of manageability and meaningfulness can act as a counterweight to the demands and unfairness of everyday life. For professionals who work with teenage girls, the results from this study can be important in their work to support these girls.

Background: Supporting positive mental health development in adolescents is a major public health concern worldwide. Although several school-based programs aimed at preventing depression have been launched, it is crucial to evaluate these programs and to obtain feedback from participating adolescents. This study aimed to explore adolescents’ experiences with a School-based cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program. Methods: Eighty-nine adolescents aged 13–15 years were divided into 12 focus groups. The focus group interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Three categories and eight subcategories were found to be related to the experience of the school-based program. The first category, intrapersonal strategies, consisted of the subcategories of directed thinking, improved self-confidence, stress management, and positive activities. The second category, interpersonal awareness, consisted of the subcategories of trusting the group and considering others. The third category, structural constraints, consisted of the subcategories of negative framing and emphasis on performance. Conclusions: The school-based mental health program was perceived as beneficial and meaningful on both individual and group levels, but students expressed a desire for a more health-promoting approach.

Background: Supporting positive mental health development in adolescents is an important school health concern, but there is a need to investigate the suitability of the interventions used.

Aim: The aim is to investigate the experiences of school health professionals in conducting a universal school-based programme aimed at preventing depressive symptoms in adolescents.

Methods: Twenty-two school health professionals participated in four focus groups. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Findings: The overall theme identified in the study consists of 'striking a balance between strictly following the manual and meeting the students' needs'. Three subthemes emerged: 'doing good and sowing seeds for the future', working with insufficient tools, and 'personal development as a professional and as an individual'.

Conclusions: School health professionals conducting the programme found it valuable in a school setting, but considered support from the school administration essential.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents (6-16 years), and relationships between being overweight and sleep, experiencing of fatigue, enjoyment of school, and time spent in watching television and in sitting at the computer. Trained school nurses measured the weight and height of 2891 children aged 6, 7, 10, 14, and 16, and distributed a questionnaire to them regarding television and computer habits, sleep, and enjoyment of school. Overweight, obesity included, was present in 16.1% of the study population. Relationships between lifestyle factors and overweight were studied using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Having a bedroom television and spending more than 2 h a day watching television were found to be associated with overweight (OR 1.26 and 1.55 respectively). No association was found between overweight and time spent at the computer, short sleep duration, enjoyment of school, tiredness at school, or difficulties in sleeping and waking up. It is recommended that the school health service discuss with pupils their media habits so as to promote their maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the implementation of a universal school-based cognitive behavioral program whose target is to prevent depressive symptoms in adolescents. The study had a quasi-experimental design with pretest, posttest, and a 1-year follow-up and provides an illustrative calculation for the implementation costs of the intervention. Sixty-two students (aged 14) and seven tutors participated. A majority of the students and all of the tutors were satisfied with the intervention. The students, both females and males, rated their depressed symptoms as significantly lower after the course; and for the females, this was maintained 1-year postintervention. The implementation costs for the initial 2 years were about US$300 per student. Positive effects of a universal school-based cognitive behavioral intervention aiming at preventing depressive symptoms in adolescents were found, especially among females.

This study illuminates nine psychiatric disabled persons’ lived experience of a newly established community-based service center open around the clock. This new 24-hour support center (SC) was established in 2011 in a Swedish community to better match and facilitate the disabled persons’ needs. In order to illuminate the disabled person’s experiences individual interview was performed. A phenomenological-hermeneutical method inspired by Paul Ricoeur was used to interpret the texts. After a naive reading, a structural analysis revealed two themes: 1), becoming aware of myself as a person, and 2) having a lifeline and belongingness. The comprehensive understanding was interpreted as meaning “Making me feel almost like an ordinary person”, which incorporated the person’s past with their present together with a direction for the future and hope for a more fulfilling life.

OBJECTIVE: Research about the prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity in the Saudi Arabian female population is limited. The aim of the present study was to examine the dietary habits and the prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity and associated factors among female university students.

DESIGN: A cross-sectional study.

SETTING: A university centre for female students in south-western Saudi Arabia.

SUBJECTS: The study involved 663 randomly selected female university students who self-reported their physical activities, nutritional habits and socio-economic factors. Multiple linear and logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with the students' BMI, dietary variables, underweight and overweight/obesity.

RESULTS: The majority of the university females were normal weight (56·9 %), but a high prevalence of underweight (19·2 %) and overweight/obesity (23·8 %) occurred. Social factors significantly associated with BMI were the presence of obese parents and siblings as well as physical activity levels, marital status, number of sisters, father's level of education and more frequent intake of French fries/potato chips (>3 times/week). Several variables were found to correlate with dietary habits, underweight and overweight/obesity. Of special interest is the association between the number of siblings and the participants' BMI and dietary intake in both negative and positive ways.

CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this research have implications for health promotion and prevention of malnutrition among college-aged females. Health-care providers and policy makers need to involve the whole family when promoting females' physical activity. The study serves as an evidence-based background for planning and implementation of interventions targeting improvement of highly educated populations' nutritional habits.

Background: A predictive genetic test for Huntington’s disease can be used before any symptoms are apparent, but there is only sparse knowledge about the long-term consequences of a positive test result. Such knowledge is important in order to gain a deeper understanding of families’ experiences.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to describe a young couple’s long-term experiences and the consequences of a predictive test for Huntington’s disease.

Research design: A descriptive case study design was used with a longitudinal narrative life history approach.

Participants and research context: The study was based on 18 interviews with a young couple, covering a period of 2.5 years; starting 6 months after the disclosure of the test results showing the woman to be a carrier of the gene causing Huntington’s disease.

Ethical considerations: Even though the study was extremely sensitive, where potential harm constantly had to be balanced against the benefits, the couple had a strong wish to contribute to increased knowledge about people in their situation. The study was approved by the ethics committee.

Findings: The results show that the long-term consequences were devastating for the family. This 3-year period was characterized by anxiety, repeated suicide attempts, financial difficulties and eventually divorce.

Discussion: By offering a predictive test, the healthcare system has an ethical and moral responsibility. Once the test result is disclosed, the individual and the family cannot live without the knowledge it brings. Support is needed in a long-term perspective and should involve counselling concerning the families’ everyday life involving important decision-making, reorientation towards a new outlook of the future and the meaning of life.

Conclusion: As health professionals, our ethical and moral responsibility thus embraces not only the phase in direct connection to the actual genetic test but also a commitment to provide support to help the family deal with the long-term consequences of the test.

Conclusion:Motor and autonomic features showed expected relationships with disease duration. In contrast to these observations, and to most previous reports on nutrition in PD, frequencies of underweight and undernutrition were low. However, malnutrition risk was high, emphasizing the need for regular clinical monitoring of nutritional status. The reasons for the preserved nutritional status have to be explored prospectively.

AIM: To validate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the ALPS-Neo, a new pain assessment scale created for the continuous evaluation of pain and stress in preterm and sick term infants.

METHODS: A unidimensional scale for continuous pain, Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital Pain Scale (ALPS 1), was developed further to assess continuous pain and stress in infants treated in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The pain scale includes observations of five behaviours. A manual was created, clarifying the scoring criteria. An internal and an external panel assessed face validity. Psychometric properties were evaluated in three different steps. Inter-rater reliability was estimated from video-based assessments (n = 625) using weighted kappa statistics (test I). Inter-rater reliability was further evaluated in test II (n = 125) and test III (n = 96) by real-time assessments using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS: The final inter-rater reliability (test III) was assessed as good with ICC 0.91 for the total score and 0.62-0.81 for the five items. Cronbach's alpha showed 0.95 for the total score.

CONCLUSION: ALPS-Neo is a new assessment tool for optimising the management of pain and stress in newborn infants in the NICU. It has proved easy to implement and user-friendly, permitting fast, reliable observations with high inter-rater reliability.

This inquiry explored how a group of teachers experienced resources for their well-being, both at work and in their private lives. The findings indicate that caring, for others and for oneself, is central for teachers' well-being. Caring is manifested in being present in the moment, and in actions which promote the well-being of oneself and others. Implications from the findings suggest that both school administration and teacher education should pay special attention to the caring aspects of teaching, as they influence teachers' well-being and retention, as well as the pupils' learning. Health promotion interventions could benefit from these findings.

Objective:The aim was to explore any change in parents' time use together with theirchildren, changes in their perceived occupational value, and its relationshipto children's body mass index (BMI) over the course of a one-yearoccupation-focused family intervention. Method: The study sample consisted ofparticipants in one arm of a randomized controlled trial, involving mothers andfathers (n = 30) of 17 children aged 4–6 years who were considered obese. Datawere collected by time-geographical diaries during the intervention and bymeasuring the parents’ occupational value and the children's BMI before andafter the intervention. Results: At the end of the intervention, an increasewas shown in the amount of time parents spent together with their childrenduring weekdays (p = .042) and the parents perceived occupational value (p =.013). Children's BMI z-score changed with −0.11 units. Conclusion:Collaboration with parents may be useful in interventions aiming atfacilitating a normal weight development among children.

OBJECTIVE. This study explored factors related to changes in the time parents spent with their children with obesity and associated decreases in children’s body mass index (BMI) z-scores after an occupation-focused intervention.

METHOD. Parents participated in a 1-yr occupation-focused intervention to promote healthy family lifestyles. Data on 40 parents of 22 children with obesity ages 4–6 yr were collected before and after intervention and analyzed using linear and multiple regression methods.

RESULTS. Parents increased time spent with their children by an average of 91 min/day. Parents’ finances, perceived satisfaction in daily occupations, low BMI, and mastery at inclusion were associated with increased time spent with their children. Mothers’ subjective health and high mastery and fathers’ perceived occupational value and education explained 67% of the variance in children’s BMI z-scores.

CONCLUSION. The results indicate important factors to consider in developing interventions that facilitate occupational engagement and health among children with obesity and their families.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of action research (AR) in the context of Swedish municipal care from a facilitator’s’ perspective. Four empirical studies using the AR approach were performed during 2007–2012 in six municipalities. Establishing support for AR was time-consuming when it concerns starting up processes that were created and were changeable over time. Further, the processes were focused on the sustainable development of practice, based on practitioners’ and care consumers’ knowledge, that is a precondition of organizational change. An important precondition was that the participants were motivated and participated actively in all phases of the AR cycle. Another important precondition was that the participants got along with each other and trusted each other. The participants’ engagement and the collaboration that was established between the participants and the facilitator were likely a result of this. Moreover, even positive interaction with participants representing a “top–down” perspective was important for the implementation of proposed changes to the practice. In conclusion, AR enhanced sustainable action based on participant’s everyday knowledge relating to areas they want to change and improve in the context of municipal care practice.

BACKGROUND: Previous research studies have found that the better the quality of practice environments in hospitals, the better the outcomes for nurses and patients. Practice environment may influence nurses' ability to individualize care but the detailed relationship between individualized care and the professional practice environment has not been investigated widely. Some evidence exists about the association of practice environments with the level of individualization of nursing care, but this evidence is based on single national studies.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether nurses' views of their professional practice environment associate with their views of the level of care individualization in seven countries.

PARTICIPANTS: Nurses (n=1163), registered or licensed practical, working in direct patient care, in orthopedic and trauma inpatient units in acute care hospitals in seven countries participated in the study.

METHODS: Self-administered questionnaires, including two instruments, the Revised Professional Practice Environment and the Individualized Care Scale-Nurse (Individualized Care Scale-Nurse A and B) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed statistically using descriptive statistics, simultaneous multiple regression analysis, and generalized linear model.

RESULTS: Two regression models were applied to assess the predictive validity of the Revised Professional Practice Environment on the Individualized Care Scale-Nurse-A and B. The results showed that elements of the professional practice environment were associated with care individualization. Internal work motivation, cultural sensitivity, control over practice, teamwork, and staff relationship with physicians were predictors of support (Individualized Care Scale-A) for and the delivery (Individualized Care Scale-B) of individualized care.

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide evidence that environment aspect could explain variations in care individualization. These findings support the assertion that individualized care needs to be understood in a broader context than the immediate nurse-patient relationship and that careful development of the care environment may be an effective way to improve care quality and outcomes.

departments take up a large proportion of health care resources, at the same time they appear to experience low satisfaction with the care they receive. The purposes of this pilot study were to describe: I) the development of a team model for taking care of frequent visitors to a somatic hospital based ED; II) Eventual changes, over six months, in costs and patients’ health care utilization related to pilot testing the model and III), the team’s experiences of implementing the model.

Methods: A mixed method convergent parallel design was used.

Results: The development of the model began as a top-down process and later on into a bottom-up approach once the inter-professional team became involved. The new model functioned as a support for all 12 patients included in the study and collectively their visits decreased by a total of 73 visits (55%).

Conclusion: The inference quality description is that a management induced project may be accepted and actively applied when those involved experience freedom to structure the project. Increased communication between different professionals within the hospital and between different caregivers such as ED, primary health care and community social- and health-care, increases the possibility for the patients to be cared for in a sustainable and non-fragmented way.

Patients who repeatedly seek care directly at hospital based somatic emergency departments take up a large proportion of health care resources, at the same time theyappear toexperience low satisfaction withthe care they receive The purposes of this pilot study were to describe: I) the development of a team model for taking care of frequent visitors to a somatic hospital based ED; II) Eventual changes, over six months, in costs and patients’ health care utilization related to pilot testing the model and III), the team’s experiences of implementing the model. A mixed method convergent parallel design was used. The development of the model began as a top-down process and later on in the process into a bottom-up approach oncethe inter-professional team became involved. The new model functioned as a support for all 12 patients included in the study and collectively their visits decreased by a total of 55%. The inference quality description is that such a management induced project may be accepted and actively applied when those involved experience freedom to structure the project. The freedom of being able to structure the model led to steps being taken that were beyond the project’s original limitations.

This paper explores focus group discussions of registered nurses in municipal palliative care for older people, using data collected by researchers with an interest in health sciences. The linguistically based discourse analyis builds on a combination of Bakhtinian notions of dialogicity, the Other and addressivity, the use of quotations, and also van Leeuwen’s framework for legitimation in discourse. The aim is to investigate strategies of addressing and legitimizing palliative care. Three types of narrative are discerned: the cautionary tale, fictionalization of professional experiences and the enactment of a fictive dialogue. The other professions involved (physicians, assistant nurses) are positioned as the Other as a means of legitimizing the perspectives of the registered nurses. As the patients and their next of kin are the objects of professional activities, the notion of the Third (connecting to the Other) is proposed. The objectification is a manifestation of commitment with routinized and professional distance to the patients.

Background: Nurses in Sweden have a high absence due to illness and many retire before the age of sixty. Factors at work as well as in private life may contribute to health problems. To maintain a healthy work–force there is a need for actions on work-life balance in a salutogenic perspective. The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of resources in everyday life to balance work and private life among nurses in home help service.

Methods: Thirteen semi-structured individual interviews and two focus group interviews were conducted with home help service nurses in Sweden. A qualitative content analysis was used for the analyses.

Result: In the analyses, six themes of perceptions of recourses in everyday life emerged; (i) Reflecting on life. (ii) Being healthy and taking care of yourself. (iii) Having a meaningful job and a supportive work climate. (iv) Working shifts and part time. (v) Having a family and a supporting network. (vi) Making your home your castle.

Conclusions: The result points out the complexity of work-life balance and support that the need for nurses to balance everyday life differs during different phases and transitions in life. In this salutogenic study, the result differs from studies with a pathogenic approach. Shift work and part time work were seen as two resources that contributed to flexibility and a prerequisite to work-life balance. To have time and energy for both private life and work was seen as essential. To reflect on and discuss life gave inner strength to set boundaries and to prioritize both in private life and in work life. Managers in nursing contexts have a great challenge to maintain and strengthen resources which enhance the work-life balance and health of nurses. Salutogenic research is needed to gain an understanding of resources that enhance work-life balance and health in nursing contexts.